A Lion's Pride
by totheendoftheworld-ortime
Summary: The relationships we foster make us who we are. A story of four Gryffindors, their families, and the family they build for themselves. From getting their letters to navigating the troubled waters of young love, and everything in between, follow this Pride through the trials and tribulations of their days at Hogwarts. Rated T for later situations that may arise.
1. Letters

**A/N: It's been a hot minute since I've written a lick of Fanfiction, but this little tidbit has been in the works for several years. I hope it gives you a little taste of the personalities of the "Core Four" of this next-gen story.**

 **Disclaimer: The majority of these characters, sans Ella and her mother, belong to JK Rowling and her wonderful magical world.**

* * *

 **Chapter One: Letters**

It was a dark, gloomy sort of September day. Despite the weather, the window was propped open, and cold seaside air drifted in. The occupant of the room sat in her armchair, curled under a fluffy blanket and writing in a battered old journal. Her task however, was not uninterrupted; Every few minutes, she glanced across the sill expectantly, hoping that she might see a figure approaching through the dense sky. Each time, she returned to her writing disappointed.

This routine was not short-lived. The girl spent almost three hours of the morning of her eleventh birthday sitting there, writing and waiting. It would come, of course. There was no reason it shouldn't. But still, she could not convince herself that there would not be some horrible mistake which would cause her to be overlooked.

Her mother popped her head around the doorframe. "Ella, come downstairs. You've been sitting here since breakfast. Your letter will come, I promise, but sitting here won't make it come any faster."

Ella peered across the edge of the blanket, looking rather silly with one arm sticking out, holding her pencil, and the rest of her completely shrouded. Quietly, she replied, "But mum, what if there was a mistake? What if they didn't know whether to put me down for Hogwarts or Ilvermorny so no one put my name down at all?"

"Sweet pea, I've got it on good authority that every last magic baby born in the country is put down on that list. It's not a matter of your dad and I having gone to different schools," she said, perching herself on the arm of the chair her daughter occupied. She patted her daughter's head and continued, "And Sara and Levi both got their letters right on time, didn't they?"

Ella turned to completely face her mother, looking every bit as anxious as she sounded. She contemplated her mother's logic for a moment, then nodded in surrender.

"I suppose you're right," she said. " _Hogwarts, A History_ , does say that an enchanted quill writes the rolls, so there isn't any room for uncertainty, is there?" Her shoulders relaxed, and her mother let out a small sigh of relief.

"Exactly. No room for human error. It's a fully automatic system. Now, will you come downstairs? It's practically lunchtime already."

"I suppose. It'll come when it comes," Ella sighed.

She made to free herself from the blanket and pry herself out of the chair. Just as she stood up however, a large object whizzed past her head, screeching to a halt just short of the wall. She looked around frantically, and saw that the object was, in fact, a small barn owl with a thick envelope clutched in it's beak. Still a bit stunned from the owl's sudden entrance, it took her a moment to collect herself before reaching for the letter. Once she did, she felt the heavy parchment in her hand, and felt the last dredges of her anxiety over this day dissipate.

Tossing a cat treat the owl's way, she carefully broke the seal and pulled out the heavy parchment inside. She and her mother exchanged an excited glance as the owl took off, leaving them with the highly anticipated letter. Ella glanced over the lilting scrawl briefly, then began reading aloud.

"Dear Miss Cross," she read. "We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…"

* * *

"Scorpius, dear. If you don't wake up, your breakfast will be cold."

The boy in question grumbled dramatically and pulled his pillow over his head. His mother rolled her eyes and moved toward the foot of the bed. Slowly, she reached for his feet. She'd barely made contact when her son shot straight up and jumped out of the bed.

"I'm up! I'm up!"

"Downstairs, Scorpius," she said, and apparated the four floors down to the dining room with a loud _crack_. Still grumbling to himself, Scorpius shuffled to the door, stopping suddenly upon catching a glimpse of the calendar on his wall. 30 September. His birthday. His _eleventh_ birthday.

With newfound energy, he rushed down the grand stairs of the manor and skidded to a halt in the kitchen where both of his parents sat waiting.

"Figured out the date, did you son?" his father drawled, peering over his Daily Prophet. "Your grandparents sent you a parcel," he added, gesturing to a long, lumpy object in the corner. Scorpius grabbed the package and tore it open, despite his mother's protests in the background that really, he should sit down to breakfast first.

His face fell when he saw the package's contents. A highly-polished cherry handle led to solid gold footrests and a well-shaped tail of bristles. It was a broom, and not just any broom.

"Oh, a Firebolt 5. It's… it's lovely," he announced, trying to sound convincingly like he was pleased with the gift. His mother scoffed and set the plate of sausage and eggs she'd been balancing down on the counter with a clang.

"For Merlin's sake, Draco, why can't your parents accept that Scorpius has no interest in flying?" she said, voice teetering between exasperation and true anger. "Your father explicitly asked what he might like for his birthday, and I made it very clear that a portable chess set or an Impossibly Packable Pack that he could take on his little adventures would be just the ticket."

"Astoria, dear…"

"Mum, it's really fine."

"No, it's really not," she said, her volume growing louder by the moment. "They have a blatant disregard for your preferences, Scorpius. They just can't accept that your interests differ from what they'd like them to be. How could you possibly enjoy such a _Muggle pastime_ like _hiking_ , when they expected you to be raised a good, Muggle-hating Malfoy."

"Astoria, that's enough," Draco said quietly, placing his hands over hers and pulling her into the chair beside him. "We can't change my father. My mother, despite herself, seems not to be able to change much either. But you and I, we raised our boy to move past our families' mistakes and prejudices, and he has… right into the strangest hobby I can imagine, sure, but that's neither here nor there."

Astoria's breathing slowed, and she chuckled a bit at Draco's inability to understand why anyone, Muggle or otherwise, would willingly spend whole days in the woods free of modern comforts. Scorpius inched closer and hugged his mother.

"Thanks mum, but the broom is fine, really. Maybe I'll find out I like flying after all," Scorpius said, shrugging, truly convincing no one, but laying the conversation to rest.

At that moment, a loud screech echoed from the window over the sink, and the little family turned to see a handsome owl waiting there. Breakfast now thoroughly forgotten, Scorpius lunged for the window to receive the long-awaited delivery the owl bore. He tore open the heavy envelope with no regard for the elaborate seal and began scanning the parchment with fervor.

 _Dear Mister Malfoy_ …

"Aloud Scorpius! I want to hear!" his mother interrupted, joy returning to her tone.

"Right, right," he replied, and cleared his throat. "Dear Mister Malfoy. We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…"

* * *

Albus Potter was awoken on the morning of 7 January by an immense clatter. Startled, he shot straight up, still wrapped in his bedsheets. In his still-dark bedroom, he could not identify the source of the noise, and struggled to free himself so that he could reach the light by the door.

As he tiptoed across the floor, to avoid waking his sister surely still asleep in the room below, another clatter arose. Now awake, he was able to identify that the commotion was coming from behind the curtain. Carefully, as the occasional doxy still appeared in the old house on Grimmauld Place, he armed himself with a candlestick and pulled back the curtain. A tawny owl greeted him on the other side of the glass, flapping his wings against the window and again sending up the loud noise that had roused him from sleep.

Initially, the boy let out a sigh of relief; No doxies would be fought off that morning. However, when he saw that the owl carried a thick envelope sealed with wax, rather than the tightly rolled scrap of parchment he typically received via owl post, a jolt of anticipation shot up his arms. He wrenched the latch open, allowing the owl into the room.

The owl, it seemed, was not keen on releasing his delivery. Upon entering, it flew to the top of the wardrobe hooting in irritation _. Perhaps,_ Albus thought, _it's angry that it kept having to bang its wings on the glass_. Quickly though, he rationalized that the bird's anger wasn't possibly his own fault; Someone, after all, had sent the poor thing well before dawn, with no one awake on the receiving end.

Albus dug around in his side table drawer, looking for something to ply the owl with, so that he may retrieve his letter. He found a slightly crushed bad of crisps at the bottom and offered its contents to the bird. Blessedly, the creature relented. It dropped the letter, filled its beak with the snack, and departed back into the London sky.

Albus took a deep breath, and shakily picked up the heavy envelope. He knew he was being silly. He knew exactly what was in that envelope. He'd read the same letter over and over as his cousins and brother had received their own. But that didn't stop his hands quaking as he broke the seal. He carefully unfolded the parchment and began to read.

 _Dear Mister Potter,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…_

* * *

Rose Weasley fumbled with the front door as she tried to balance a basket of eggs over her left arm without tipping any onto the walk. The unusually hot May sun had beat down on her the entire way home from the neighboring farm, where she was helping with late spring planting, and she longed for her blissfully cool, magically air-conditioned bedroom. Finally wrestling the door open, Rose stepped inside.

"Mum, I'm home! Mrs. Gates sent along some eggs for you." She got no answer. "Mum?" She wandered into the kitchen, growing more perplexed by the moment. "Dad? Hugo? Is anyone home?" Looking around in confusion, Rose headed for the back garden. Perhaps her family were out de-gnoming the garden beds.

"Is anyone out here?" she called.

"Surprise!" her parents, brother, and several members of the extended family popped out from behind trees and shrubs, causing Rose to start rather dramatically and send the eggs flying into the air. Four of them came down on her bushy red hair with a dull thud. The rest cracked on the pavement in front of her, leaving quite a mess.

"Oh dear. Rose are you alright?" her mother rushed to her and began picking the eggshell out of her hair.

"She'll be fine Hermione, it's just a bit of egg," Ron said. "Look Rosie, we've got a cake, and you've got loads of presents. All your cousins have sent you one." He pointed excitedly at a large pile of wrapped packages.

Rose smiled weakly, looking around at the expectant faces occupying the garden. All she'd wanted was a nice cool glass of pumpkin juice and a lie down. Her birthday morning had started out rather uneventfully. Her mum had made a nice breakfast, sure, and her dad and brother had led a jovial round of "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow," but she'd quickly bustled out for her day at the farm and hadn't given her birthday another thought.

"It's lovely. It's so nice to see you all. I-I wasn't expecting…"

Her uncle Harry patted her firmly on the shoulder and said, "Weren't expecting a party? It's your eleventh Rosie, or did you forget?"

"Truthfully, I did. A bit, at least. I was just doing other things today, not really thinking about it," she said, shrugging. "But really, I'm so glad to see you all, even if I wasn't expecting it. Just wish I _had_ been expecting it," she mumbled as she picked an eggshell out of her hair. "I might've set the eggs down before coming outside if I had."

As if to punctuate her plight, at that moment she felt something join the eggshells atop her head, and saw an owl land on a branch of an old oak. Reaching up tentatively, she felt wax and a rough parchment square. Quickly, to keep the wax from melting in the heat and making more of a mess in her hair, she plucked the now-slimy envelope off her head.

"Oh Rose," her mother exclaimed, "Your letter's here! I remember Professor McGonagall coming to deliver mine. Oh, mum and dad were so shocked. It's so much nicer to know it's coming, I expect."

Her father clapped his palms together and the whole family eyed her, despite knowing exactly what was coming. She pried open the envelope and removed the letter inside. Clearing her throat so she could be heard by everyone, she began to read as if giving a speech.

"Dear Miss Weasley. We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…"


	2. A New Alliance

**A/N: What's this? Another Chapter already? I guess the writing wheel is a-turnin' today. It's probably because I have about seven hundred things I _should_ be doing. Nonetheless, enjoy the crew's first trip to Hogwarts and their sorting.**

 **Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, our Queen.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two: A New Alliance**

"Keep up Al, we've got to find a compartment before they all fill up!" Rose shot over her shoulder, lugging her trunk down the aisle of the train. She was _not_ going to get stuck being the annoying little girl who had to ask one of her older cousins for a seat in their compartment. Surely there was still one available, or at least one where only other first years had staked a claim. Rose Weasley was quite determined to start off on the right foot at Hogwarts, and her short stature made her all the more determined to stave off anyone viewing her as a little girl who needed help doing simple things like finding a place to sit.

Her cousin Albus, on the other hand, was entirely unconcerned with finding a place. He had no qualms about popping into James' or Lucy's compartment and asking for a seat if he needed to. Nonetheless, huffing a bit and trying to balance his owl's cage atop his trunk, he hurried forward attempting to keep pace with Rose.

"If you'd move just a half second slower," he groaned, having a caught the edge of his trunk on a dip in the floor, "I'd be _able_ to keep up."

She gave him a pointed look and quickened her pace. "Well if you're going to whine about it, then I'll go on ahead a find a place. Catch up when you can." Her fingers waved in goodbye around the handle of her cat's basket, and Albus soon saw her stop up ahead, talking to the occupants of a compartment on the right.

"… didn't expect to see you on the train," Albus heard as he approached. He arrived at the glass door just as Rose bustled inside, and turned to see Grace Longbottom and a strawberry blonde girl who looked vaguely familiar already sitting there.

"Oh, hello Grace," he said, setting his owl, Hephaestus, on the bench before wrestling his trunk through the door. "What brings you to London?" It was a valid question, as the small, brown-haired girl had lived with her parents in Hogsmeade village since the age of six. Just as his cousin had been saying, they hadn't expected to see her on the train.

"Visited Gram in Surrey for the summer. Dad thought it best I get out a bit before starting school." Momentarily, Grace and the two cousins got caught up in the niceties of seeing a friend whose family you know well, asking after her parents, Neville and Hannah, and getting caught up on what they'd all been up to since last seeing each other. It was Rose who broke the conversation to turn to the compartment's fourth occupant.

Rose's bright Weasley blush gave away her embarrassment at leaving the girl out of the conversation as she reached to shake her hand. "So sorry. I'm Rose Weasley," she said.

The other girl reached out and shook her hand enthusiastically. "Ella Cross. Pleasure to meet you."

Albus immediately recognized her name, but couldn't quite figure out where he had heard it. Hoping that the girl wouldn't be taken aback by him introducing himself when they'd clearly met before, he reached out his hand as well. "I'm Al. Um… Albus Potter, but really I prefer Al."

The girl chuckled. _Damn_ , he thought _, I'm definitely supposed to know her._

"I know," she said, breaking into a grin. Al felt worse. Even with confirmation of his suspicion, he couldn't place her. "Our parents are friends," she elaborated. "Matthew and Anna?"

Realization struck. Her parents were professional Quidditch players. Well, former professional Quidditch players. They both left the American League around the time his mum had started playing, but Ella's mum had been Team Healer when his mum had played for the Harpies, and they still got together for tea a few times a year. Al turned red and mumbled an apology. In his defense, they had only met a couple of times, and it had been a few years since they had both tagged along for a get together.

She chuckled again and offered him a pack of Ice Mice. "No hard feelings, Al. It's been awhile. I forget that my memory's more a steel trap than most. I shouldn't have assumed you'd remember me."

Moving past that awkward conversation, the four of them began to settle in for the ride. As the train began to pick up speed, the door again opened. A tall, skinny boy with silvery hair and gray eyes peered in. Al and Rose exchanged a glance. They both recognized him from the platform.

"Um, hi," the boy squeaked. "Everywhere else is full. Is it alright if I join you?" Rose scoffed loudly, turning to the window. Grace froze stock still, processing Rose's reaction with the boy's features and doing the math. Al wasn't quite sure how to react, because if he ended up in Slytherin, he might need this boy to be his friend.

Ella, completely unfazed by the others' reactions and having no clue who stood before her, waved him into the compartment. He'd barely finished loading his trunk into the rack before she offered him his own pack of Ice Mice and shot into introducing herself.

"I'm Ella Cross." She stuck out her hand and the boy shook it tentatively, but did not offer a verbal response. "What's your name?"

"Um… S-Scorpius," he replied.

"That's an interesting name. After the constellation?"

"Y-yeah. It's um… it's a family tradition."

Ella leaned forward, intrigued. "Really? So, what other constellations are your family named after?"

Rose piped up at this point. "Oh, you know, just the good old-fashioned evil-sounding ones. Bellatrix, Draco…" Scorpius flinched at this contribution, thinking that Ella would surely kick him out of the compartment.

Not processing this information the way Rose had hoped in providing it, Ella pressed on. "Well really, Bellatrix is a single star in the constellation Orion, but I see your point. Sort of a cool tradition. The only tradition in my family is that we kids have four-letter names." She paused a moment, further taking in what Rose had said. "Oh, do your families know each other?"

Rose scoffed again. "Know each other? His Death Eater dad tortured my mum and dad all through school, if that's knowing each other. Grace's and Al's too." She crossed her arms tightly and turned away, looking out the window at the countryside rolling by. Grace joined her, albeit with a bit less veracity. Ella blinked rapidly, dumbstruck, and Scorpius went pale and silent.

Albus finally spoke up, making his decision and treading carefully with his words. "For what it's worth, my dad says your dad wasn't so bad after the war. And your grandmum… She turned the tide, she made it so he could come back to finish it." Scorpius perked up a bit at this small vote of confidence.

"Your… your dad?"

"Al Potter," he said, hesitating for moment before deciding to stick out his hand. Scorpius reached out and took it. "What do you say we try to patch up old wounds, Scorpius?"

Scorpius grinned widely. That sounded great to him. He never thought he'd find a friend so quickly, not to mention a friend who had every reason to ignore him. He turned to Ella with pleading eyes. _Please,_ he thought _, be my friend too._

Ella returned his gaze, still in a bit of shock from the information she'd been provided. She didn't know much of the individual roles played in the war, just that there'd been a good side and a bad side, and that the good side, led to the final charge by Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix, had defeated Voldemort and his Death Eaters. She'd grown up in the wizarding community that had experienced it all, of course, but her parents had lived the entirety of the war overseas, and her father only had vague memories of the first war. The details, in turn, hadn't ever made it to her ears.

Slowly, she smiled. Leaning forward, she patted the boy's knee gingerly. "I don't have any wounds to patch, but I think I'd like to join you lot. It's best to start off on the right foot, with new friends, isn't it?"

With the first alliance formed, the boys settled in for the remainder of the ride, talking about the classes they were most looking forward to and what the sorting might be like. Ella managed to pry Grace and Rose away from the window and strike up a conversation about what houses they were hoping for. The tension however, did not dissipate, even when the trolley came along and Scorpius offered to buy everyone a Pumpkin Pasty. Rose looked pointedly past him and ordered one of her own. Grace accepted his offer but did not meet his eyes as he passed it over, just mumbling a "thank you" and returning to her spot by the window.

They were all very grateful when the train pulled into Hogsmeade station and they were freed from each other's company.

* * *

The first years reached the Great Hall at half-eight. Minerva McGonagall stood waiting at the heavy doors to brief them on what was to come.

"First years, gather around. No stragglers, you all need to hear my instructions."

A hush fell over the mob of children. Most of them had grown up hearing stories of the intimidating old woman standing before them now, and even those who hadn't were struck by her command of the room.

"Good, thank you. In a moment, you will enter the Great Hall. You will gather below the head table, as neatly as possible if you please. No need to crowd. I will call each of you up to be sorted into your house: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. After you are sorted, you will join your table for the feast."

As she concluded her welcome, whispers started up again. Rose, having separated from Al and the Malfoy boy, looked around to see if she could spot her cousin and gauge his nerves as her own kicked into high gear. She saw him about 10 yards away, still chatting with his new friend and looking surprisingly unconcerned about the sorting. She felt heat rising in her face and quickly turned away. She couldn't believe that Al had befriended a Malfoy.

Grace prodded her from behind. The group was moving forward. Ella, her new friend, was right in front of her walking into the Great Hall. She found herself questioning how Ella could agree to be friends with all of them. It seemed like a fundamental impossibility, but alas the bubbly, talkative girl had decided that she could befriend anyone she so pleased.

As the first years arrived at the front of the enormous room, cheered by the hundreds of students sitting at the four long, wooden tables, they gawked. The high ceiling faded into the night sky, and thousands of twinkling candles floated around the room. By comparison, the rickety old barstool and tattered Hat standing before them were decidedly less grand. Professor McGonagall swept up the steps to the stool, and the room quieted. They all stood waiting in anticipation, wondering when she would call the first student forward. Before that could happen, a wide slit opened up in the brim of the Hat, and it began to sing.

Even the returning students sat enraptured by the Hat's song of new beginnings, careful decision-making, and inter-house unity. When the wide slit finally came to rest, applause rung out, and Professor McGonagall summoned a scroll from her place at the head table. She carefully unrolled the parchment and looked across the top of her glasses at the first years before her.

"Now," she announced, "We'll begin. Abbey, Alexander." A sandy-haired boy fiddling with the sleeves of his robes startled and tripped up the steps to the stool.

"HUFFLEPUFF," roared the Hat after a short deliberation.

"Heavens, are they all that quick?" a girl nearby asked. "I thought we might have some sort of evaluation. Some chance to find the completely right house and all."

Ella perked up at this, clearly having some tidbit at the ready to share. "Some people take longer," she whispered. "My dad took three whole minutes, he says. I did read in _Hogwarts, A History_ about something called a Hatstall though, when the Hat can't choose, but I think it's more legend than anything."

Rose nodded in agreement. "My mum took quite a while. Hat had a hard time deciding if she should be Gryffindor or Ravenclaw," she said.

"My dad too," Grace added.

Ella's turn came rather quickly, at the end of the "C" names. At McGonagall's call of her name, the girl who'd been cheerful and excited for school for the past several hours suddenly turned deathly pale. Rose had to poke her gently in the shoulder to get her moving toward the hat, and she could see her new friend shaking and fidgeting as she sat down. It was quite the change from the confident girl she'd been getting to know all day. The hat took longer with Ella than any of the students before her. It was close to two minutes before it ripped open at the base to announce…

"Gryffindor!" The color quickly returned to Ella's face as she stepped down and ran off to join the Gryffindor table, now cheering wildly for their new addition. Rose saw her join a taller boy with a wide grin spreading across his face, and remembered that she'd mentioned a brother in Gryffindor. Rose knew she needn't worry, as there would be someone to greet her no matter which house she joined, but she imagined it must have been a bit scary not knowing if you'd be sorted into a house in which you knew no one.

Shortly, the girl who'd asked about the speed of the sorting had responded to "Goldstein, Clara," and been sorted into Ravenclaw. By the time McGonagall reached Grace's name, each house had been assigned several new members. She squeezed her friend's hand and sent her on her way to be quickly sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Malfoy, Scorpius," was the next name to ring out. An expectant hush fell over the hall as the skinny boy slouched up the steps and eased himself onto the stool. The Sorting Hat took some time to deliberate, which was surprising in itself for a Malfoy. The real surprise though, came when the Hat broadcasted its decision to the room.

"GRYFFINDOR." The silence continued a moment, and then a loud, familiar voice shouted "That's right! Another Gryffindor!" and the table members burst into a sort of astonished applause. Rose couldn't believe it. A Malfoy, in Gryffindor. _Maybe_ , she thought, _Al is onto something. Maybe this one's different_. She quickly shoved the thought away. She would have to see it to believe it.

The sorting was moving quickly toward her cousin now, with only a few names between "Malfoy" and "Potter." She knew she'd be close to the end. When his turn arrived, the hall again fell silent. Everyone wanted to bear witness to the sorting of the Boy Who Lived's second son. Rose could see that Al's nerves had returned, but by the time the Hat was settled on his head, he seemed considerably more at ease. Within a matter of seconds, he too had been placed in Gryffindor, and was being greeted with thunderous applause and the hoots of his many cousins awaiting him at the table.

Now, Rose waited. Once "Rimmer, Bethany" was called up and sorted into Slytherin, only eleven students remained. Glancing around, she spotted at least two whom she knew would come after her, but she didn't know exactly where she'd fall.

"Weasley, Rose," called McGonagall when only five of them remained. Her time had come. Rose steeled herself for the long walk up the steps, and lifted herself onto the stool. She could feel the eyes of every one of her cousins boring into her as the Hat was placed on her head. She hoped it wouldn't be a long deliberation.

"Ah…" she heard. The Hat's voice was deep, and it reverberated through her skull. "Intelligent like your mother, surely, but the thirst for knowledge… not quite there. A touch of ambition, but really child, you have heart. Dedication. No need to fret, my decision is an easy one. Naturally… GRYFFINDOR."

Once again, applause erupted from the sea of crimson off to the left. "Atta girl Rosie!" shouted Fred, clapping her on the shoulder as she headed to a spot just past him, next to Ella. Her friend hugged her tightly and began animatedly introducing her brother Levi. Rose however, was paying little attention. She had turned her focus to where Al and Scorpius Malfoy were sitting amongst several older students. They all seemed the be chatting amicably with him. Watching, she realized that the loud voice that had welcomed him to the table after his sorting had been her cousin Dominique. Dominique, whose dad had been mauled by a werewolf Death Eater, had led the charge of welcoming a Malfoy to Gryffindor house. Perhaps, Rose realized, she'd been too rash in her reaction earlier. If the rest of her cousins could accept his presence, maybe she could too.

But that was to be pondered another day, as the table in front of her suddenly filled with food, and her worries fell temporarily away.


End file.
